


A Bedtime Story

by WhisperOfWarmth



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Force Bond (Star Wars), Friendship, Friendship/Love, I Ship It, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Love, Love Confessions, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Protective Kylo Ren, Reylo - Freeform, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship, Sharing a Bed, Short One Shot, Slow Romance, Star Wars - Freeform, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-16 14:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhisperOfWarmth/pseuds/WhisperOfWarmth
Summary: Being Supreme Leader is nothing like Kylo thought it would be. Stress, suspicion, paranoia ... all of these things prevents him from getting the rest that he so desperately needs.It’s during one of his sleepless nights that he receives an unexpected visit ... from a VERY unexpected guest.





	A Bedtime Story

Kylo Ren sat cross-legged in a chair by his bunk, busily sewing up a tear in one of his cloaks. His hands were clumsy and the needle kept striking at his thumb, but, being tired, he barely noticed the pain.

He shook his head a little, annoyed with himself, that he was doing this most menial of tasks. Odd, considering he was now the Supreme Leader, and could have replaced this cloak with a hundred, a thousand others, in the time it was taking him to patch this one up.

But this one, was special to him. It had belonged to his grandfather, Darth Vader, recovered from the ruins of his palatial home on Mustafar. Kylo didn’t trust a single other soul with it, and, being fortunate enough to have been taught basic domestic skills by his mother in his youth, he was determined to fix anything wrong with the item, _himself_.

It was very early in the morning, and once again, Kylo couldn’t sleep. He would wager that since he took over the throne so many months ago, he hadn’t had one full, uninterrupted night of sleep. Part of it had to do with his new chambers; they were huge and lavish, a major contrast to the small, bare room he had had before. He missed that room, and, often, the life that had been connected to it.

But appearances mean everything in the First Order, so the rooms he inhabited had to reflect the change in his status. 

But there were too many shadows in this room, too many dark, indistinguishable corners that his mind was busily scanning, searching, seeking possible intruders. There were guards positioned in front of the outer doors, of course; but Kylo didn’t really trust them, either.

It was in this state of seeing and watching that a small noise caught his attention. It seemed to have come from the air shaft in the sitting room, although, that could have just been the air turning in. Convincing himself that he was jumping at shadows, he focused back on the task at hand ... but then he heard the noise again. A bit louder, this time.

In his mind’s eye, he could picture the steel grate moving back from the vent, a pair of hands quietly moving it aside and setting it on the floor. Crawling slowly from the duct, landing softly and skillfully on the balls of their feet. Standing and waiting for their eyes to adjust to the dark, then padding stealthily towards his bedroom.

Kylo Force-pulled his saber from on top of the dresser and into his hand. He didn’t ignite it yet, as the sound would undoubtedly tip the (possible) intruder off as to Kylo’s awareness. He waited, patiently, for his prey to come to him.

When the figure appeared in the doorway, it was so unexpected that he couldn’t properly react. Was he dreaming? Had the last remnants of sanity finally broken free from his conscious, leaving him utterly mad?

“Rey?”

The figure stepped closer, glowing pair white in the darkness.

“It’s me.”

Kylo began to shake, upon hearing her voice. He had heard it so often in his dreams that he was quite positive that this was another one. Either that, or she was fooling him. He couldn’t get out of his head what had happened with Skywalker, so, keeping his saber off, he inched slowly up to where she stood, holding his trembling hand out towards her.

She knew what he was doing, and smiled a little. She extended her arm in his direction, making him flinch an uneasy step backwards. 

“I’m not projecting myself. It’s me, I’m actually _here._ ”

Stubbornly, and scowling, he continued to reach towards her, until his fingers tapped against the solidity of her hand. Her _real_ hand. 

She _was_ actually there.

“Luke must have really done a number on you,” she said, somewhat smugly, “If you can no longer tell what is reality.”

“Why are you HERE?”, he barked out at her, narrowing his eyes. “For that matter, HOW are you here?”

Rey smiled, and, looking around, found a small chair to sit on. 

“To answer your last question first, an escape pod with a cloaking device, and ventilation shafts. I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed that the security surrounding the almighty Supreme Leader isn’t more —“

“Now answer the WHY.”

Rey sighed, shaking her head. “You’re still so rude, so abrupt. I’d hoped that in all this time, you’d have learned to talk to people by now in a way that isn’t screaming at them.”

Kylo sat on the edge of his bunk wearily. Whether he had touched her or not, he was having a hard time convincing himself that this wasn’t still a dream. Or an elaborate nightmare.

“You’re looking well, scavenger. Much less scrawny than the last time we met. The Resistance must be feeding you well.”

Instead of positively responding to his attempt at congeniality, Rey shot back at him,

“You look worse than ever. Like you haven’t properly slept in months. Are you ill?”

Kylo scowled; her words, while harsh, were steeped in truth. Ever since he became Supreme Leader, he had been plagued with fear and paranoia. He knew that many in the Order did not agree with his new position, and he felt that there were very few people (if anyone at all) that he could trust. He believed that it was only a matter of time before there was an uprising against him (likely led by General Hux), and he barely slept as many hours as he needed to, for fear of being caught off-guard.

But he couldn’t say all of this to Rey.

“Unwarranted rudeness is a vile quality in a person.”

“I wouldn’t call making a dangerous trip to check on the well-being of my worst enemy to be rude, actually. Stupid, maybe, but not rude. A little appreciation would be lovely.”

“‘Check on my well-being’?”, he repeated, scoffing. “You’re right; that IS stupid. I’m ‘well’. How could I not be? I have everything,” he said, gesturing at the lavish decorations all around him, “That I ever wanted.” 

But Rey didn’t seem impressed. Looking down and speaking softly, she said, “All of that and yet, you’re still not happy. I can feel that you’re not. Depressed, lonely ...”

Kylo stood up, his eyes blazing, his hands wildly gesturing. “You have no right to speak to me of feelings! You have no right to speak to me on anything at all! You —“

Rey stood up as well, and came towards him. Kylo braced himself defensively, thinking she was about to attack.

Instead, she reached him, and threw her soft arms around his middle, burying her face against his chest.

“I have every right to speak to you about feelings, because your feelings are my own! Everything about you is a mirror into myself, and dammit, it’s painful, to be away from you!”

Kylo put his own arms around Rey, holding her gently. Smiling a little, he said, “Are you about to put a knife into my back? If so, please tell me; I don’t like being unprepared, or surprised.”

Rey laughed, separating herself from him a little. “Not. I’m not that devil General of yours.”

She sat down again, this time on his bunk, and he sat next to her. He took hold of her tiny hand and held it in his own, not wanting to let go.

“I’ve ... Ive thought about you every day, since Crait,” he confessed, not looking at her. “Wondering if you were okay. Wondering if you were happy.”

“Do I look happy?”

“You look like the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen in my life,” he told her, squeezing her hand. “Likely why I’m having such a hard time believing that you’re actually here, and not an angel from my deepest dreams.”

She leaned against him, infecting him with her warmth.

“You say the sweetest things. If only I could be sure that you _mean_ them, and you’re not just saying words to manipulate me.”

“I’m not just saying words, Rey. Come on; if I didn’t have SOME depth of feeling for you, I would have killed you the second you showed up in my room. Speaking of which ... not that I don’t appreciate you being here, but, once again, WHY are you here?”

Rey sighed. “Because I missed you.”

“And —?”

“And, that’s all. I missed you. And I knew that nobody would understand that, so I had to sneak away to see you.”

“I missed you, as well.”

Rey turned around, looking at where they were sitting.

“Your bed is rather large and comfortable-looking,” she said, bouncing lightly for emphasis. “Would I put you out if I asked to stay in it, for the remainder of the night? Give us a chance to talk, a little.”

“Of course,” he agreed, standing. “I’ll just make up a pallet on the floor for myself.”

Rey chuckled, swinging her legs up into the bed and pulling one of his thick blankets over herself. “I’d rather hoped we could share, Ben,” she said, looking up at him and smiling. “Unless, of course, you find that objectionable in some way —?”

Kylo walked around to the other side and crawled in, pulling the covers up as well.

“Is this the part where you seduce me, we have sex, and THEN you plunge the knife into my back?”

Rey rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder. 

“No. This is the part where you hold me, and we talk. There won’t be any knife plunging. Also, at this present time, there won’t be ‘plunging’ of any other kind, either, so _get that out of your head_ , Supreme Leader.”

Kylo smirked and scooted closer to her, wrapping her in his strong arms. Resting his chin in her soft hair, he murmured, “Looks like Han lied to me, about what happens the first time you get a woman into bed. Not how I envisioned it going, but, all things considered, I’ll take it.”

Rey looked up at him curiously. “Do you mean to say you’ve never had a woman before?”

Kylo shook his head. “No. Never. I never felt close enough to one before, to take it there. You ... well ...”

There was silence between them. Rey knew what he was struggling to say, but didn’t call him out on it. Instead, she said,

“Well, this is not the way I envisioned my love story playing out. But then again, I never envisioned that I’d HAVE one, in the first place. But, as you said, all things considered, I’ll take it.”

Kylo gulped, then asked, timidly,

“What about FN-2187?”

“ _Finn,_ ” she corrected. “And what about him?”

“Aren’t you, well, don’t you love him? It’s obvious he cares a great deal about you.”

Rey started to laugh, shaking in Kylo’s arms, and he scowled. “I’m glad you find my observations so amusing.”

Rey calmed down and shook his head, wiping her eyes with the edge of his shirt. “No, no; it’s funny because you’re wrong. We both care about each other immensely, but not in the way you mean. Finn is like, well, I feel like he’s the brother I never had.”

Kylo let out a small sigh of relief, not having realized that he had been holding his breath as he waited for Rey’s answer.

“Maybe you feel that way about him, but I doubt the feeling is exactly mutual. I think he feels a little stronger for you than just a brother.”

Rey looked up at him again, grinning. “Are you ... you’re not _jealous_ , are you?”

Kylo blushed, biting his lower lip. Force, Rey always brought out the most embarrassing parts of him.

“Of course not! I’m just saying, I don’t think you realize, sometimes, the effect that you have on people.”

Rey was quiet for awhile, letting his words sink in, before she said, 

“Well, if that’s the case with Finn, that’s a conversation we need to have. Because ... because I’m fairly positive that I’m in love with someone else.”

Kylo’s heart sank down to his feet. Of course; the Resistance was likely FULL of honorable, desirable men. Men worthy of a jewel like Rey. It was all he could do to open his mouth and say, “Who?”

“I’ll give you a hint: I’m curled up with him on his bunk right now, and he’s holding me so tightly that I can hardly breathe, but I’m not complaining because even with that it doesn’t feel tight enough.”

Kylo loosened his arms slightly, mostly out of shock. “You ... you love me?”

Rey rolled her eyes again. “No. I only snuck out here, risking death from your people and complete shunning from mine, if they found out, for fun.”

Trembling, Kylo said, “I want very, very badly to kiss you right now. Because I love you, too. I have since the second you scarred my face. I think about —“

He was interrupted when Rey leaned up and connected their lips together. Their kiss was very soft, but powerful. It was as if they were both touching live wiring, and being electrocuted by its strength—but unable to back away.

It was a long while before they were able to stop, and when they did, both of them were smiling at each other.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before,” she told him, her fingers lightly tracing over his lips. “It’s beautiful.”

“I haven’t had much reason to, these past few years. Not ‘til you walked in. And you’re beautifuller.”

“That’s not a real word.”

He pulled her close again, kissing the top of her forehead. “Grammar was never one of my strong suits. But you know what? I find that if you just yell everything you say, people don’t pay too much attention to stuff like that.”

“Well, don’t yell now, please,” she said, yawning, “Because I’m tired. I assume you’ve already deduced that I’m spending the night with you? Or, what’s left of the night, anyway.”

“But what happens when the sun rises? Or the next day? Are you defecting from the Resistance? Do I get to keep you here with me, forever? Will —“

She put a finger to his lips, hushing him. “I don’t know, Ben. I know nothing of the future. All I know is the NOW. And right now, we’re together, it’s 3 in the morning, and I’m exhausted. So let’s just sleep, okay?”

Kylo nodded, and they adjusted themselves into more comfortable positions. After a few quiet moments, he whispered, softly,

“Can I tell you something?”

“Mm hmm.”

“I want to have children with you someday. I want to do everything, BE everything, with you. I know I called you nothing, but, honestly, I’M the one who’s nothing, without you. You’re _everything_. You’re all of the good things, the sweet and kind and decent things, about this galaxy. Rey ... would you be scared, if .... if I asked you to marry me?”

But she had fallen asleep, breathing in and out lightly against him.

Well, no matter.  
He’d ask her in the morning.


End file.
